Billion Dollar Moves™ with Sarah Chen-Spellings | Global Venture Capital · Sarah Chen-Spellings

How Family Offices Are Redefining Impact: Investing in Women & the Future w/ Evan & Ariel Segal, Segal Ventures

April 17, 2025·45 min·10 clips

Sarah opens with the market backdrop. The conversation pushes back on the idea that changing labels changes what is happening on the ground. Evan uses ag tech as a concrete example: even if you drop the words sustainable farming or climate change, farmers and ranchers still face the same pressures every day. He also points to the 2020 and 2021 venture boom. Many managers from that period are now raising second funds before first-fund returns are fully visible, which makes fundraising harder. Even so, he says the real bet is often on the person behind the fund. Traction and near-term numbers matter, but they are not the only signal. The family office stays clear-eyed about backing women-led funds and companies. That stance holds even amid backlash against DEI, and Evan presents it as a long-running commitment rather than a passing trend. Ariel broadens the lens beyond allocation. Her B2B marketing background and geolocation-data experience give managers useful input. The family also brings lessons from manufacturing, agriculture, and other operating contexts. When managers welcome that input, the relationship becomes a real partnership. The discussion leans into asking for help, making introductions, and connecting founders. Evan describes managers as learning and iterating as their networks deepen. He points to funds that widen their mandate over time: one that started in fashion and apparel broadens into sustainability, while another expands from tech and robotics into advanced materials, telecommunications, and deep tech. The episode closes on a rise-of-the-rest argument. Profit and purpose can align outside the coasts.

As heard by us

A grounded look at women-led investing that makes its case through portfolio mechanics, not rhetoric.

Segal Ventures is presented as a long-term bet on women-led funds and companies, with Evan and Ariel Segal describing a family office that backs more than 50 venture funds, 94% of them women-led, plus 180-plus direct investments and a portfolio of more than 800 startups.

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Want a family-office view of impact investing that still speaks venture?

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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